NFTS Alumni Set To Dominate 2025 Awards Season
The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is starting the New Year on a high, with an impressive array of student and graduate-made productions making waves at some of the industry's most prestigious award ceremonies! From the Golden Globes to the BAFTAs, Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) Golden Reel Awards, and the Annie Awards, NFTS talent is being celebrated at the biggest moments on the awards calendar, showcasing the school’s incredible impact on the global stage.
Wins at the Golden Globes for productions with NFTS graduates in key roles included Wicked for Cinematic And Box Office Achievement and Baby Reindeer for Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television.
16 shorts made the BAFTA Film Awards long-list across animation and live action, and the NFTS is proud that student or graduate-made productions make up almost 40% of this category. In competition for Best Short Film are 2024 graduation fiction Rock, Paper, Scissors, documentary Milk and a Bridge to Industry short co-produced with BBC Film, Stomach Bug. Graduation animation Adiós was selected for Best Short Animation in contention with Nina Gantz’s Wander To Wonder and Paloma Baeza’s Three Hares.
Additionally, Kneecap is long-listed for Best Film, Best British Film and Best Film not in the English Language lists with Executive Producer Chiara Ventura a named nominee. Sandhya Suri’s Santosh is on the Best Debut List, The Substance is listed for Best Cinematography thanks to Benjamin Kračun and Wicked for Best Sound by Simon Hayes. The BAFTA Film Award nominations will be announced on Wednesday 15th January.
Two National Film and Television School Sound Design graduates have been nominated for the Student Film (Verna Fields Award) at the MPSE Golden Reel Awards. Joseph Russell (Intermission) and Alina Ushakova (Bubble Boy) were recognised for their work on their respective graduation animations. Additionally, four alumni have been recognised across the categories for Outstanding Achievements in Sound Editing; Duncan Price (Slow Horses), Ruth Knight (House of the Dragon), Tom Jenkins (Baby Reindeer) and Louise Burton (Kneecap).
Recently the nominees were announced for the 52nd annual Annie Awards, widely recognised as the Oscars of animation. NFTS graduation animation Adiós has been nominated for Best Student Film. Aardman’s Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl was nominated in seven categories including Best Feature, Best Character Animation - Feature, Best Direction and Best Music - Feature. The highly-anticipated return of the dynamic duo was directed by Nick Park with music by Julian Nott and multiple additional alumni behind the scenes. Additional highlights include Nina Gantz’s Wander to Wonder for Best Short Subject and Best Sponsored nomination Coldplay’s feelslikeimfallinginlove, a mixed-media masterpiece made by 14 animators including Isabel Garrett, shot by Ronnie McQuillan and produced by Alexander Handschuh.
The National Film and Television School is also eagerly awaiting the soon-to-be-announced Oscar nominations. The shortlist is studded with our alumni in lead roles on productions including Kneecap and Santosh for International Feature Film, A Bear Named Wojtek and Wander to Wonder for Animated Short Film, Gladiator II and Wicked for Sound and Civil War and Wicked for VFX.
The achievements keep rolling in, and the NFTS couldn’t be prouder to see our alumni’s talent recognised by such prestigious organisations. We’re eagerly anticipating how the 2025 awards season unfolds and look forward to celebrating even more success.
Best of luck to all of our alumni!